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BEATSON,
the surname of a family originally situated on the West Marches. At the end
of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries they
acquired the lands of Kilrie, Vicarsgrange, Glasmont, North Piteadie,
Powguild, Balbardie, Pitkennie, and others, in Fifeshire. Robert Beatson,
Esq. of Kilrie, Royal Engineers, married, 1790, Jean, only child of Murdoch
Campbell, Esq. of Rossend Castle, Burntisland, of the Caithness Campbells.
His grandson, Alexander John Beatson, Esq. of Rossend, is head of the
families of this name.
John Beatson Bell,
Esq. of Glenfarg and Kilduncan, represents in the female line a younger
branch of the family of Vicarsgrange, which acquired the lands of Mawhill in
Kinross-shire, by marriage with the heiress, Marie Grieve.
Major-general
Alexander Beatson, H.E.I.C.S., at one time governor of St Helena, was of the
Kilrie family. For a memoir of him see Supplement.
BEATSON, ROBERT,
of Vicarsgrange, LL.D., author of some useful compilations, eldest son of
David Beatson of Vicarsgrange, and of Jean, daughter of Robert Beatson of
Kilrie, was born at Dysart 25th June 1741. His paternal and
maternal grandfathers were cousins, the one being the laird of Kilrie and
the other of Vicarsgrange. His grandmothers were half sisters, daughter os
William Beatson of Glasmont, and cousins of their respective husbands. He
obtained an ensigncy in 1756, and the following year accompanied the
expedition to the coast of France. He afterwards served as lieutenant, in
the attack on Martinique, and the taking of Guadaloupe. In 1766, he retired
on half-pay. He obtained the degree of LL.D. from the university of
Edinburgh. He had commenced writing a Peerage, which he did not live to
complete. Part of the material is contained in one of three volumes of
manuscript, entitled ‘Beatson’s Collections,’ in the library of the Faculty
of Advocates in Edinburgh. He sold Vicarsgrange in 1787, and during the
latter years of his life was barrack-master at Aberdeen. He was a fellow of
the Royal Society of Edinburgh, where he died January 24, 1818, ages 87. His
works are:
Political Index to
the Histories of Great Britain and Ireland, or a Complete Register of the
Hereditary Honours, Public Officers, and Persons in Office, from the
earliest periods to the present time. Edin. 1786, 8vo. The same. Lond. 1788,
2 vols. 8vo.
Naval and Military
Memoirs of Great Britain, from the year 1727 to the present time. Lond.
1790, 3 vols. 8vo. Second edition, 1804, 6 vols. 8vo.
A New and Distinct
View of the Memorable Action of the 27th July, 1778, in which the
aspersions cast on the Flag Officers are shewn to be totally unfounded.
1791, 8vo.
An Essay on the
Comparative Advantages of Vertical and Horizontal Windmills. Plates. Lond.
1798, 8vo.
A Chronological
Register of both Houses of the British Parliament, from the Union in 1708,
to the Third Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
in 1807. Lond. 1808, 3 vols. 8vo. |
